Sigilmassasaurus is Spinosaurus: A reappraisal of African spinosaurines

Smyth, Robert S.H.; Ibrahim, Nizar; Martill, David M.

doi:10.1016/j.cretres.2020.104520

Cited by 25 publications

(47 citation statements)

References 91 publications

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“…Henderson (2018) also pointed out that if terrestrial locomotion is limited and aquatic speed is important, Spinosaurus might therefore be expected to have reduced the caudofemoralis musculature and fourth trochanter. However, describe it as having a robust fourth trochanter, and Smyth et al (2020) diagnose the species as having "femur strongly bowed anteriorly with fourth trochanter hypertrophied, extending along ~25% of the femoral shaft. "…”

Section: Hind Limbsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Specimens of Spinosaurus have been recovered from a wide variety of localities and environ-ments and this perhaps argues against an animal that is in some way unique in its association with the Kem Kem. Indeed, the recently suggested synonymisation of numerous genera and species within Spinosaurus aegyptiacus by Ibrahim and colleagues (Ibrahim et al, 2020b;Smyth et al, 2020) would greatly extend the temporal and geographic range of this species meaning that the oddity of the Kem Kem (which itself may be less strange that often depicted e.g., Belvedere et al, 2013) would not potentially remain an outlier and would in itself not explain the unusual morphology of Spinosaurus.…”

Section: Environmental Factorsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Evaluating the ecology of Spinosaurus: shoreline generalist or aquatic pursuit specialist?

Hone

Holtz

2021

Palaeontol Electron

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The giant theropod Spinosaurus was an unusual animal and highly derived in many ways, and interpretations of its ecology remain controversial. Recent papers have added considerable knowledge of the anatomy of the genus with the discovery of a new and much more complete specimen, but this has also brought new and dramatic interpretations of its ecology as a highly specialised semi-aquatic animal that actively pursued aquatic prey. Here we assess the arguments about the functional morphology of this animal and the available data on its ecology and possible habits in the light of these new finds. We conclude that based on the available data, the degree of adaptations for aquatic life are questionable, other interpretations for the tail fin and other features are supported (e.g., socio-sexual signalling), and the pursuit predation hypothesis for Spinosaurus as a "highly specialized aquatic predator" is not supported. In contrast, a 'wading' model for an animal that predominantly fished from shorelines or within shallow waters is not contradicted by any line of evidence and is well supported. Spinosaurus almost certainly fed primarily from the water and may have swum, but there is no evidence that it was a specialised aquatic pursuit predator.

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Section: Hind Limbsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Environmental Factorsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluating the ecology of Spinosaurus: shoreline generalist or aquatic pursuit specialist?

Hone

Holtz

2021

Palaeontol Electron

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“…However, all these considerations assumed a slightly retracted, raised head. Clearly, the straight neck of the swim posture as proposed by us [ 8 ] and in the animation related to the article by Ibrahim et al [ 7 ] moves the center of mass forward and favors swimming, while an S-shape neck posture as reconstructed from neck vertebra [ 23 ] moves it backwards, favoring bipedal locomotion on land and corresponds to the submerged resting posture proposed by us [ 8 ] ( Figure 1 ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 93%

“…Here, we propose that the long, flexible neck [ 23 ] and the specialized head and snout morphology with the ridged longitudinal fluted crest were all part of the adaptations to ‘pivot’ feeding, where rapid head movement overcomes the prey’s escape abilities as observed in seahorses [ 24 ]. Pivot feeding required stealthy advance to bring the prey into Spinosaurus ’ reach without triggering an escape.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Contributions to a Discussion of Spinosaurus aegyptiacus as a Capable Swimmer and Deep-Water Predator

Gimsa

2021

Life

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The new findings on Spinosaurus’ swim tail strongly suggest that Spinosaurus was a specialized deep-water predator. However, the tail must be seen in the context of the propelled body. The comparison of the flow characteristics of Spinosaurus with geometrically similar animals and their swimming abilities under water must take their Reynolds numbers into account and provide a common context for the properties of Spinosaurus’ tail and dorsal sail. Head shape adaptations such as the head crest reduced hydrodynamic disturbance and facilitated stealthy advance, especially when hunting without visual contact, when Spinosaurus could have used its rostral integumentary mechanoreceptors for prey detection. The muscular neck permitted ‘pivot’ feeding, where the prey’s escape abilities were overcome by rapid dorsoventral head movement, facilitated by crest-mediated lower friction.

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“…The wide range of morphological variations in frontal bone is observable in many theropod species (e. g., Currie, 1987;Barsbold and Osmólska, 1999) and due to this, many authors have expressed great cautions about using such features when diagnosing a theropod taxon (Ibrahim et al, 2020;Smyth et al, 2020). Additionally, Carpenter (2010) suggested that autapomorphies based around minor variation of highly variable regions should be rejected.…”

Section: A B Cmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Reassessment of the Taxonomic Validity of Dynamoterror dynastes (Theropoda, Tyrannosauridae)

Yun

2020

Zoodiversity

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A Reassessment of the Taxonomic Validity of Dynamoterror dynastes (Theropoda, Tyrannosauridae). Chan-gyu Yun.-Associated fragmentary materials of tyrannosaurid theropod Dynamoterror dynastes McDonald et al., 2018, were reported from the Upper Cretaceous Menefee Formation of New Mexico. However, two originally proposed autapomorphies (i. e. prefrontonasal and prefrontolacrimal processes separated by a shallow notch; subrectangular caudal postorbital suture separated from the rostral part by a deep groove) for Dynamoterror are present in other tyrannosaurids, and the poorly preserved nature of the holotype frontal makes it uncertain whether these features are even comparable to other tyrannosaurids. Thus, the combination of inadequacy of autapomorphies and the highly fragmentary nature of the holotype means that the taxonomic name should be regarded as a nomen dubium. K e y w o r d s : Theropoda, Tyrannosauridae, Dynamoterror, nomen dubium.

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Sigilmassasaurus is Spinosaurus: A reappraisal of African spinosaurines

Cited by 25 publications

References 91 publications

Evaluating the ecology of Spinosaurus: shoreline generalist or aquatic pursuit specialist?

Evaluating the ecology of Spinosaurus: shoreline generalist or aquatic pursuit specialist?

Contributions to a Discussion of Spinosaurus aegyptiacus as a Capable Swimmer and Deep-Water Predator

A Reassessment of the Taxonomic Validity of Dynamoterror dynastes (Theropoda, Tyrannosauridae)

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